Opinion

Going into Tuesday, it appeared that Terry Branstad will serve another four years as governor. Steve King will return to the House of Representatives. And Joni Ernst can take her hog castration show to Washington as a member of the world’s most exclusive debating society, the US Senate.

This is our final chance to comment before the Nov. 4 election. We have pretty much had our say, and letter writers theirs, about the candidates and issues facing Buena Vista County and Iowa. We have endorsed candidates from both parties in county, state and federal elections. We should also take a moment to touch on the candidates who face no opposition:

Last Thursday’s congressional debate was great sport, great television and great politics as Boone Democrat Jim Mowrer gave Kiron Republican Steve King the beating we have been waiting for lo these dozen years. Mowrer drew blood with the intimation — intended or not — that King is a chicken-hawk who declined to serve in the Vietnam War but has not met a war since he did not embrace.

Ben Bradlee helped launch the political careers of Tom Harkin and Berkley Bedell, although they had not met him in 1974. And, Bradlee got me interested in a career in newspapers despite me not knowing who he was.

I was watching a re-run of “Little House on the Prairie.” A young boy was running with an old broom pretending it was a horse. Years ago this was quite common and cost nothing. Every home had a broom. For some reason a broom always took on a funny shape after being used a lot. Brooms were not only used for sweeping the floor, they were also used to sweep snow, beat rugs and many other things.

Storm Lake is leading Iowa into a new future. That was the theme of a Des Moines Register/USA Today analysis this week showing that The City Beautiful today is what Iowa will look like in about 45 years. When The Register’s reporter called to get our take on the story, we suggested that other rural communities would do well to study the Storm Lake experience to rejuvenate themselves.

Joni Ernst has a solution to the problems of government: Blow it up. Worried about Social Security? Scrap it for private vouchers that may or may not sustain Grandma. Don’t like the EPA dragging its feet on renewable fuels? Get rid of it. Think the Affordable Care Act is a drag on the economy? Repeal it. “We need to come up with a plan that is patient-centered,” the Red Oak Republican said during her first general US Senate campaign appearance in Storm Lake on Friday.